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Gunvolt
thumb|400px|right More in-depth information about Gunvolt is available on the Azure Striker Gunvolt Wiki. Gunvolt is the star of Inti Creates' side-scrolling platform series Azure Striker Gunvolt and one of the first two Extra Characters introduced to Blaster Master Zero in the Version 1.2 update on May 4, 2017. He was announced alongside the "Destroyer Mode" playthrough style for Jason (made available to all players upon patch release) and Ekoro (who was made available for download/purchase the following month). For the Nintendo 3DS and Switch release, he was originally made available for free for one month after release, then priced at USD $1.99 afterward. He and Ekoro are bundled free with the Steam release. Appearances & Synopses Blaster Master Zero thumb|256px|left As with all other Extra characters, no story cutscenes are given to explain Gunvolt's appearance in the Underground, nor his acquisition of Sophia III (or Sophia Zero, should the player meet the requirements to access Area 9). Sophia III's primary palette becomes blue and yellow to match Gunvolt's attire, but its performance is otherwise unchanged. Life Capsules are changed to water bottles, Life Ups are changed to badges, and major item pickup sound effects are changed to natively synthesized versions of Azure Striker Gunvolt franchise item pickup chimes. Jason's additional subweapons and the Energy Guard are turned into dummy pickups, offering no benefit to Gunvolt but counting towards the item completion rate. They are shaded in greyscale in the same manner as Jason's Life Ups/Energy Guard in Destroyer Mode. Gameplay Changes thumb|256px|right Compared to Jason's Gun, Gunvolt's "Cerberus" dart gun boasts an impressive firing rate with zero projectile drift or dropoff but deals abysmal damage on its own. To deal and avoid damage, Gunvolt must make use of the varied Septimal powers ported over from his own series. The most crucial of these (Flashfield and Prevasion) are usable in both play modes and share an EP bar that replaces the Gun meter; it automatically recharges when either ability hasn't been used for a second or so, and can be further refilled by picking up Ammo, Gun, or SP Capsules. Still other abilities available only in top-down mode replace the usual subweapons and draw from a separate SP meter with a maximum of 3 points; these only recharge automatically at a rate of 1 every 10-15 seconds, but this timing disregards such things as player control being stopped to display a boss's title card. On top of these, Gunvolt is immune to fall damage/fall death in side-scrolling mode, can continually Wall Jump by pressing the B button while hugging a non-damaging wall, and (as of the Version 1.4 update) can use the "Call SOPHIA" button to call Sophia III/Zero to his position in most cases. Cerberus Cerberus is Gunvolt's all-purpose dart gun, boasting automatic fire while the Y button is held (up to 6 shots onscreen in either mode) but terrible damage. Its true purpose is to mark enemies for attack from his Flashfield ability. Up to three marks may be placed (taking the form of a targeting reticle surrounding the enemy), with the newest impact replacing the oldest. Despite its low attack power, Cerberus will break blocks and stagger certain advancing enemies as normal in top-down mode (particularly Gurnahide, which Flashfield is ineffective against). Flashfield Gunvolt's primary offensive tool, activated by holding the R button in either mode. Without marks placed on the enemy, it will continually deal weak ticks of damage in a 2-block (top-down)/1-block (side-scrolling) radius around Gunvolt. If one or more marks is present, lightning will arc out from the Flashfield (through solid walls, if necessary) to continually deal boosted damage to the targeted enemy. In side-scrolling mode, Flashfield may be activated in mid-air to slow Gunvolt's falling speed, but cannot be activated underwater (echoing an incident in the original Azure Striker Gunvolt where doing so would short out his entire EP bar). Prevasion When not using the Flashfield, any enemy/projectile hit or environment trap that would damage Gunvolt instead depletes roughly 30% of the EP bar, cancelling that hit and emitting a shower of feathers. Despite the limit on Flashfield, this ability works fine underwater in side-scrolling mode. In top-down mode, Prevasion does not activate when Gunvolt falls into a pit or pool, nor if he is caught in the intermittent currents in Area 4. Dragonsphere Unleashes a close-range plasma sphere that impacts the enemy Costing 1 SP, this subweapon lays a ball of thunder at Gunvolt's feet that persists for about five seconds, dealing damage to whatever touches it. Dragonspheres can break cracked walls and illuminate dark areas. Galvanic Patch Stimulates bioelectric current to recover a small amount of Life Costing 1 SP, this immediately recovers 3 Life for Gunvolt. This subweapon is unavailable in Blaster Battle Mode. thumb|256px|left Luxcalibur Deploys a large electric blade in the direction Gunvolt is facing Costing 2 SP, this subweapon freezes time for an eyecatch before Gunvolt unleashes a sword 8 blocks long and 4 blocks wide (at the crossguard, tapering towards 1 block wide at the tip) in his facing direction for a massive hit of damage. Luxcalibur will break cracked walls if it touches one, and is the only wall-breaking subweapon in the game agnostic of whether the crack is facing the player (even when the crack spans two rooms), allowing Gunvolt to rapidly acquire the Maps for Area 5 and Area 7 and Area 5's Life Up. Voltaic Chains Deploys electrifying chains that are powered based on the number of targets in sight Acquired from fellow cameo character Joule on the floating island in the middle of Area 1's starting room (the Wall Climb is needed to reach this island from either direction), this 3 SP subweapon stops time to canvas the foreground with chains, which are then electrified to attack the entire screen for damage proportional to the number of enemies present. As few as 2 available targets will increase Voltaic Chains' power enough to one-shot the patrolling Mutant Gunners in Area 7, and if used while they are not alerted, any remaining in the room will not raise an alert in response. Gallery BMZ_TheSixMillionDollarMegaman.jpg|After-images left by Gunvolt's top-down mode movement. Trivia *Gunvolt and Ekoro previously paired up as cameo characters in Mighty Gunvolt, an arcade platformer using similar 8-bit shaders as Blaster Master Zero released by Inti Creates in 2014 to commemorate/promote Comcept's Mighty No. 9. *Neither Gunvolt nor Ekoro can destroy blue rocks in Area 4, as they both lack weapons that either have a fire attribute (Jason, Shantae) or dedicated rock-breaking power (Shovel Knight). External Links Blaster Master Zero version 1.2 announcement on Inti Creates official site Category:Characters Category:Blaster Master Zero